Show AND SUFFRAGE THE chicago inter ocean of february lat hns has an editorial with the above headline head line starting out with the annexed resolution pass passerby passed edby by the national woman suffrage As Eo clation that paper considers the wording of the le ze solution unfortunate because it puts the Ass association ocla ocia in gran an attitude not unfriendly to polygamy egit I 1 s axed that the proposition to disfranchise t be the women of utah for no crime what boerer Is faa ija a cruel power which hes lies in might alone and that oong cong congress oon Con greES reEs cees has no more right to didt dist danchise ran nan chise the tha women ot of utah than the mon of wyoming wy enang the inter ocean proceeds to state that the tho leading proposition before congress is to disfranchise both the men and women of utah who in def defiance lance lince of lawr law jaw polygamy As polygamy is defined as a crime the statement that any bill before be fore congress proposes to diedt disfranchise anchise women for crime whatever ja not true as to the main point or the inferential ferent ial ones onea 1 bear bearing ingon on thearin the principle under discussion if it is right to dla franchise disfranchise a man who practices polygamy the move ment meat which has for its purpose the weakening of the polygamist party by dis franchising the women who practice polygamy Js is not to be too nastily hastily wrider condemned nned il the woman sus suf suffrage frage act of the utah legislations then quoted in this way every woman of the aga of 21 years who hav hag resided in this terri tory six months next preceding any general or special election born or naturalized in the united state or who is the wife widow or the daughter of a native born or naturalized citizen of the united states shall be entitled to vote at any election in this territory that TAW the period of minority mino ity ily ez extends inmates in matea malca to the age ago of 21 years and in females to that tat of IS 18 years but all minors obtain their majority by marriage the supposed object of this meas mess ure is then described describe ds and a great deal of nonsense indulged in on the supposition that a mormon elder returning from europe with two or three hundred ignorant converts could parcel his girls of 15 and up ward out among a number of mor mong mona marry them by wholesale and make them 13 arnouff movements against the tho cormons mormons are then related and tho the conclusion is aniced at that f 6 the law as it stands must mast be annulled in its entirety as a matter of course war is not made upon it because it confers suffrage on women but because it discriminates against law abiding men and women and in favor of men and women who take pride ju in defying the laws lawa this is so plain that it is dim cult to understand how bow the leaders of df the woman suffrage movement could have made such a mistake as the adoption of this resolution seems to convict them of the article cloes eloes with the assertion that however well it may have been intended it is plain that on this one point the woman suffrage association blundered A proper understanding of this matter will show that 1 IS 1 is the inter ocean not the association which has haa blundered we wish we could credit that paper with good intentions intention in its mistake but from its readiness tocoby to copy anything unfavorable to the cormona Mor mona and disinclination to look for the tho facts or credit them when presented we are led to believe that its intentions ate aie not well meant now in the first place the proposition before congress against which the woman suffrage Artro association clation protests is not to disfranchise either agmen men or women who in defiance of law practice polygamy daes does not the enfer inter ocean know that the edmunds edmunda law provided for that and that at the latest election in utah neither men nor women who were nvere or even had been identified with the practice of polygamy were permitted to vote if not its ita memory must mast bo be sadly detective defective by searching the files niles of his paper the auditor will find accounts of the doings of the commissioners under the edmunds law and that the disfranchisement of women as well as aa men in the relation has haa already been affected how then can the mea sure now before congress to repeal the woman women suffrage act of utah be coa goa a proposition to disfranchise men and women i who practice polygamy the inteer inter ocean has hrs thus made one big blunder now for another the utah woman suffrage act contains no uch such F such clause as that printed by the infer inter odean ocean and which we have printed in italics we do not suppose that the editor attached it with knowledge that he be was grossly misrepresenting ting ling the case he imply blundered he doubtless took the word of the unscrupulous attorney for the unfortunate holder of the murray fraudulent certificate of election as delegate as the clause alluded to was first attached i to the woman suffrage act by that untruthful person in a collection of elanders slanders published to aid his client but which accomplished a solemn nothing we ask ash the infer inter ocean editor to look up the statutes of utah and see if he can find any such clause as that which he be has published as part of the woman suffrage act and when he finds that he has hns made blunder number two will toli no he bo be fair enough to acknowledge it and apologize apolo glza gIza for wrongly blaming tho the women that there may bo be no misunderstanding of this matter we will give the exact facts the tha clause we have printed in italics is not and never was any part of the woman suffrage act or any election law jaw of utah but bat it is to be found in an act defining at what age majority shall be reached for the purpose of being abie able to make legal contracts by which the individuals male orre or maie male may be legally bound this was passed february ath 1852 the woman suffrage act was passed february 1870 about eighteen years after and provides that a woman must be 21 years of age to bo be entitled to vote there are other qualifications specified such as rebia reala enes enca for a certain time and she must be either a citizen in her own right or tho the wife widow or daughter of a citizen there is another law connected with this thi which the inter ocean did not quote it is the registration laws law and under its provisions a woman cannot vote until she has first sworn among other things that she bhe to is twenty one years of age and ands under the rules established by the edmunds law commissioners she bhe cannot vote until she has sworn that she is 13 not and never has been the wife of a polygamist or bigamist nor has cohabited with a man who is ia or has been chhabi cohabiting ting with more than chanona one woman in the marriage relation thus the whole foundation of the inter oceans mccans argument is swept away with its ita superstructure super structure of ridicule and blame its entire article Is ia composed of blunders and to use its own language it is difficult to understand how the editors could have made such mista mistaken kea kez 11 it appears then that the woman suffrage association is right in declaring that the proposition to todia dis franch franchise ise iee the women of utah jor for no crime whatever la Is a cruel display of power which liea ilea liepin in might alone 1 for it la ia not aimed against the poly who are already chiald but bu entirely and wholly against the non polygamist women no crime whatever what then la Js the object of the bill simply to reduce the number of mormon lotesto vo testo play into the hands of their local enemies the men who mislead the inter infer ocean and other influential papers with their falsehoods this needs no argument it is plain on its face the polygamists both men and women are franchised disfranchised dle dib by the edmunds law and still further by the commissioners rules rule and this proposed legislation legi is not against polygamy but against t mono gamio f alor mons in the interest of a clique seeking beeking for political supremacy and consequent plunder if the incer inter ocean chooses longer to be the cats paw or echo or advocate of a handful of adventurers lusting for opportunities of pillage we have no objection but we take this opportunity of informing it of the facts and hope that its editors will take tak s our exposure of its errors as cheerfully as aa they expected the woman to swallow its strIct strictures ures utes as to their supposed blunder |